


we'll always save the day

by HollowMashiro



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen, Ichigo being Ichigo, ShinIchi Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 17:39:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17646971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowMashiro/pseuds/HollowMashiro
Summary: ShinIchi Week 2019 Day 1: Trust, LoyaltyIchigo does something impossible without even realizing it.





	we'll always save the day

“ _Bankai. Sakashima Yokoshima Happo Fusagari._ ”

It would have been nice if Soul Society could go for any extended length of time before another potentially world-ending crisis arose. But noooo; harsh and questionable decisions made by Shinigami forebearers ensured that Shinji’s generation was catching the brunt of a huge crop of pissed-off, highly talented individuals seeking vengeance that was, in many cases, entirely justified.

While Aizen and Yhwach were by far the worst of the modern lot, simply because they’d managed to inflict the most damage, that hardly meant that the other adversaries weren’t a pain in the ass to deal with.

Shinji grumbled to himself about having to release his bankai. He’d been officially banned from using it after his captain’s exam centuries ago because it was too dangerous to his allies. Unlike Kyoraku, whose bankai could be arguably equally as damaging to allies and who _wasn’t_ officially banned from releasing his bankai, Shinji would be sure to receive a formal reprimand from the new Central 46 for using his, and he’d have to argue that his use of his bankai was entirely justified (he could free up the others from dealing with the small fry) and suitably removed from anyone he shouldn’t hurt (he’d specifically lured the horde far from anyone else). He’d be drowning in paperwork and irritating couriers for months.

Enclosed within the wooden-looking but nigh-impenetrable nadeshiko flower bud his bankai produced, Shinji heard the self-replicating reishi constructs Soul Society’s latest antagonist had released tearing each other to pieces. The recognition that the constructs were allies of each other had been reversed, each thinking it was surrounded by enemies. They would kill each other in short order, and if there was a lone survivor, it wouldn’t be difficult for Shinji to finish it off.

Shinji ignored the sudden high-pitched wail until the nadeshiko was suddenly jostled and the temperature inside spiked. The downside of his bankai – aside from being worse than useless with allies anywhere close to nearby – was that within the nadeshiko, Shinji couldn’t see what was happening; he had to use hearing and reiatsu sense. Which normally wasn’t a problem, because his enemies were too busy killing themselves to bother with the him (especially since his bankai automatically labelled him as ‘ally’ within his enemies’ minds). But now, the nadeshiko, which was supposed to withstand any physical, metaphysical, or reiatsu based attack, was failing at its job.

Shinji cursed under his breath, gripped the hooped staff he used as a weapon in bankai tightly, and exploded out of the nadeshiko, shielding himself as best he could from the heat by pushing out his reiatsu and dodging the myriad uncoordinated grasping hands from the monstrosity the reiatsu constructs had merged to become.

“Well, hell, that’s a new one,” Shinji mumbled to himself as he took in the giant, many-limbed _thing_ he was now facing from his new vantage point high in the air. The remaining constructs looked like they’d melted together and reformed into one huge abomination. That was also, somehow, on fire. But that would have required cooperation! Well, actually, mutual hatred and recognition of being enemies could technically be a form of cooperation… Maybe that was why it looked so freaky and why the fire was horrendously multicolored. Several of the limbs were grappling with each other, too.

Freaky or not, one of the humongous limbs managed enough coordination to form a fist and fling it in his direction. Shinji blocked with the sharp ringed end of his staff, which bit deeply into the oversized fist, but he wasn’t able to ground himself well enough to avoid being sent flying.

He was saved from an embarrassing collision with the ground by crashing into warm body, instead.

“Need a hand?” Ichigo said wryly, one arm securely wrapped around Shinji’s torso from the catch.

“I already got more than enough hands ta deal with, thanks,” Shinji snarked back, before his mind caught up with him and he choked as he realized that Ichigo should be attacking _him_ right now because of his bankai.

Before Shinji could formulate a question or a complaint or a _what the hell are you doing you idiot_ , Ichigo dropped him on his feet on the ground and zoomed off to butcher the hideous thing that was still wrestling with itself. It didn’t stand a chance to a well-placed, overly-destructive Getsuga Tensho. And then Ichigo was back, looking disheveled from whatever previous battles he’d been involved in but otherwise no worse for the wear.

Shinji barely managed to get out a strangled, “How?!” when it became apparent that Ichigo still wasn’t inclined to attack him or otherwise treat him like an enemy like he really should have.

Ichigo blinked in confusion and replied, “Well, I beat the guy who was making all those constructs, and Geta-Boushi did something to make them stop regenerating, so I came here because you were still fighting. Are you feeling okay? Did that thing do something to you?” Ichigo took note of the staff of his hand and, further, saw the nadeshiko, sprawled open on the ground and scorched. “Is this your bankai?”

Shinji made another disbelieving noise and said, “Am I not your enemy?”

Ichigo squinted at him like he’d said something stupid and replied, “Of course not. You’re my friend, and I trust you. Why? Am I supposed to attack you or something?”

Briefly, it crossed Shinji’s mind that his bankai really was working, and that Ichigo was a deceiver of the highest caliber to really view Shinji as an enemy after all this time. But then he discarded the thought, because it was far more likely that Ichigo was being Ichigo and breaking things thought to be unbreakable without even realizing he was doing it. Besides, he trusted Ichigo, too.

Ichigo gave him a weird look, and Shinji realized he was laughing. God, this man and his impossibilities. Shinji released his bankai, then gave Ichigo a fond smile and said, “Don’t ever change, Ichigo. Now let’s go round up the stragglers, hm?”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is Shinji's canonical bankai. The "Can't Fear Your Own World" light novels are, technically, canonical, and Shinji's bankai was recently revealed in them. Also, the title is from the Steven Universe theme because I wrote the monster thing and then was like, 'huh this is a lot like a Malachite-esque fusion from this show which recently had a huge event and I'm struggling with a title, might as well reference SU.'


End file.
